Empty pallets or transport platforms are brought to the lifting table of a stacking station and objects to be stacked on the lifting table can be stacked while the lifting table is lowered as is described in German Printed Patent Application DE-AS 20 33 828. It is also known to make large size panels in a so-called panel dividing unit or sawing unit using apparatus as manufactured, for example, by Firma Holzma Maschinenbau GMBH, D-7260 Calw-Holzbronn, Federal Republic of Germany. These units have a longitudinal and a transverse saw for cutting the large size panels into smaller rectangular pieces of different size.
The large size panels are cut up individually or to supply the so-called panel packets or groups of panels.
By "rectangular" I mean both square and nonsquare rectangular objects The panels or pieces form similarly rectangular individual panels or panel packets. They must be transferred to the stacking stations after sorting according to size where they are arranged according to size.
Thus a single column of equal size pieces or several columns of equal size or different size pieces can be stacked on the lifting table of such a stacking station which is vertically movable up and down. In the latter case one can speak of a stack of several fixed sizes which also has several columns or individual stacks.
Thus it is known to form a stack on a transport platform on a lifting table. This transport platform can be advantageously a pallet or a so-called panel blank or finishing plate, which could previously have been mounted on the lifting table, e.g. by hand. Then after the stacking together with the stack carried by the transport platform it can be taken from the lifting table. The stack can then remain on the transport platform, for subsequent transport until it is taken from it again.
A pallet or other transport platform generally has an approximately rectangular outline and of course both a square or nonsquare rectangular periphery and its length and breadth measured in its horizontal position is substantially larger than its vertical thickness or height. The problem of transferring a transport platform to a lifting table in a simple and economically efficient way which allows a partial or complete automating has up to now not been solved satisfactorily, especially for the case in which several stacking stations are positioned side by side in a row with small spacing or without spacing.